Virginia’s corn harvest is finishing stronger than expected despite a spring and early-summer drought.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Virginia’s corn growers are expected to harvest an average of 167 bushels per acre. That’s an encouraging reversal for a crop that experienced significant moisture stress during planting and growing seasons, according to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.
“Overall, I would say my corn yielded better than I expected it to,” said Keith Dunn, a fifth-generation farmer who grows corn, peanuts and soybeans in Sussex County.
Although one of his farms “didn’t yield very well” due to exceptionally dry conditions—less than 120 bushels per acre—his other farms ranged 175 to 200 bushels an acre, something he considers “a really good year.”
“I was very concerned with the corn back when we were having the drought in June—I’d all but given up on the crop,” he added. “The corn looked really bad during the heat of the day, and I didn’t expect it to turn around the way it did.”
Much of the state was under severe-to-extreme drought conditions during the spring and early summer growing season, prompting drought disaster designations. But relief came when “the Lord blessed us with rains when we absolutely had to have them,” Dunn said……
